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Dick King-Smith grew up in the West Country, where his family ran several paper mills, and was educated at Beaudesert Park School and Marlborough College.[1] He was a soldier in World War II, serving with the Grenadier Guards in Italy and a farmer for 20 years before he became a teacher and author. King-Smith's first book was The Fox Busters, published in 1978. He was one of Britain's most prolific authors and wrote over a hundred books. In later life he lived in Queen Charlton, a small farming village near Bristol, contributing to the maintenance and conservation of the local area as the vice-president of the Avon Wildlife Trust. He married his first wife, Myrle, in 1943. They had three children Juliet, Giles and Liz.[1] Myrle died in 2000, and King-Smith subsequently married Zona Bedding, a family friend.[6]

He presented a feature on animals on TV-AM's children's programme Rub a Dub Dub.[7] and also appeared regularly (in a similar capacity) on the similarly named Saturday morning TV series Rub-a-Dub Tub (1983).[8]

King-Smith died at his home near Bath, Somerset, on 4 January 2011 at the age of 88. He was survived by three children, 14 grandchildren, four great-grandchildren and one great-great grandchild.[9]